State Peace and Development Council

The State Peace and Development Council (1988-2011) was the name given to the government of Burma that seized power in a coup d'etat in 1988. Led by Than Shwe, the military dictatorship imprisoned civil rights activist Aung San Suu Kyi for her opposition to the cruelty of the government and they were responsible for the mass execution of Buddhist monks in 2007. Their rule ended in 2011 with Shwe's resignation after the 2007 Saffron Revolution.

History
The State Peace and Development Council was formed on 18 September 1988 and replaced the Burma Socialist Programme Party as the rulers of Burma after a coup d'etat in Rangoon (Yangon). Eleven senior military officers, led by Tatmadaw commander-in-chief Than Shwe, took power in a military junta dictatorship, and the government immediately set about crushing all dissent.

In 1990, National League for Democracy presidential candidate Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest for her opposition to the government's abuses of civil rights, and she was only released in 2011. The SPDC were also responsible for using the Tatmadaw (Burmese armed forces) as an instrument of torture, intimidating many people in their country by burning down villages, massacring the inhabitants, and burying them in mass graves or not at all. In 2007, the Saffron Revolution was put down with 138 students and Buddhist monks being massacred. Monks were lined up and summarily executed and buried in unmarked graves by the Tatmadaw, and in 2008 several Christian missionaries sent to Burma for humanitarian efforts were kidnapped by Major Pa Tee Tint, an abusive Major known to molest children. The savage major was later killed in an attack by Karen rebels who had been active in the country since 1948, and many other rebel groups such as the Shan State Army, National Democratic Alliance Army, Kachin Independence Army, All Burma Students' Democratic Front, and God's Army. In 2011, the SPDC ended when Than Shwe and five other members of the government resigned and Thein Sein became the new president.

Culture
In 2009, there were 59,200,000 people living in Burma. 68% were Burmans, 9% Shan, 7% Karen, 3.5% Rakhine, 2.5% Chinese, 2% Mon, 1.5% Kachin, 1.25% Indians, and .75% Kayah. 89% are Buddhists, 4% Christians, 4% Muslim, 2% Hindu, and 1% animist. The main language was Burmese, with minor languages including Jingpho, Kayah, Karen, Chin, Mon, Rakhine, and Shan.